Montgomery Co. deputies warn about nails in Lake Conroe

Last month, two children swimming stepped on nails in water near Montgomery County Park on Lake Conroe.

Author:
Larry Seward

Published:
10:07 PM CDT July 2, 2018

Updated:
10:10 PM CDT July 2, 2018

CONROE, Texas - There is still Hurricane Harvey debris floating around Lake Conroe, and authorities see reason to warn July 4 crowds coming to swim.

Last month, two children swimming stepped on nails in water near Montgomery County Park on Lake Conroe.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador expects between 5,000 to 6,000 people will visit the park for Wednesday’s holiday. It is one of few public places to get on Lake Conroe.

It is also where a girl swimming stepped on an exposed nail in the wooden bulkhead that lines the lake. When it later happened to a second child, Meador and Constable Philip Cash sent divers in the water to remove any nails. They found a pile and believe the lake bottom is clean. However, given the murky water on the lake, they are not sure and urge caution.

“Most of Lake Conroe, except for the national forest is bulkhead,” Cash said. “So this probably could happen anywhere on the lake.”

Deputies are still finding debris, including large pieces of piers and chunks of boat docks with nails ripped apart during Hurricane Harvey, floating around the lake more than 10 months after the storm.

Meador and Cash said it is impossible to know how much debris remains under the water. While they encourage people to visit the lake, they said swimmers need to beware.

“You don’t know what’s out there,” Meador said. “You don’t know what’s under the water. It’s dark. You can’t see. It could be a stump. It could be a piece of pier or dock that’s washed up that nobody knows about and if you get tangled up in it you can’t get loose and you (have) a problem.”